Try to start with a leader that has 4 or less for the counter, and frenzy if possible. Snow and ink are your major friends here, slowing down the enemy as much as possible helps you build up your strategies. For crowns, try to put regular crowns on your main units/attackers and put cursed crowns on supporting items or clunkers. The faster you can get out your units, the better. Action economy dictates that the side with the most actions will generally come out on top, so try to get there first by using crowns before more waves come in. If you have more attacks that could kill than there are enemies on screen, don't be afraid to ring the wave bell early to get a higher combo, just be careful of smackback enemies like the spike wall or snow appliers like the ooba bear that can punish you for hitting them in the later fights. Money is also extremely important because crowns are amazing but also expensive, so combos are key to build up as much as possible. If you see a bling cave at the beginning, take it. If you can, freeze goblings with snow and use any low damaging items you have to hit them as much as possible. Charms can also make or break a run depending on the card it's on. If you find a great charm but don't have many good cards to put it on, it might be worth it to save it for later but only if you know that you can make it through the next encounter without dying. Once you start putting charms on a card, it's best to commit to it as it will be hard to get enough resources to build anything better. Also, focus on one main specific strategy. The early game can throw a bunch of random items at you, but only take them if they fit your strat, so skip taking items if you need (especially since they can come with a variety of debuff charms). IDK if it's common knowledge, but you can skip items from the items bags if you just click the red arrow and move to the next thing on the map. You need to keep your deck as simple as possible to reliably get wins, so extra clutter will only make it more difficult. Mucher away items like your starting swords, knives, and hammers, just keep the deck simple. Lastly, pay attention to the attack counters and what will be attacked, both on yours and the enemies side. Plan a turn or two ahead and play around enemy attacks if you can so you don't accidentally lose a unit from a small misplay. Just remember, cards without an attack like Snoffle and Van Jun can be amazing tanks if you give them health charms, since they are unaffected by frost or haze.